Ben "Karpo" Zubiri
A Composer And a Song

For many Cebuanos, Iyo Karpo is a household name. A stage, movie and radio personality, his real name is Ben Zubiri (1911-1969). As a child, he displayed musical abilities, delighting family and friends with dances and songs, and performing at school programs at the San Nicholas Elementary School where he studied. He soon joined singing contests and became so enamored with the stage that he forsook going to college.

Before the outbreak of the Second World War, he was already making a name for himself, appearing on stage and on screen. He starred in the first Cebuano “talkie”, Bertoldo-Balodoy. After the war, he continued to appear in the movies but also cultivated a large following as a radio personality. He worked at KZRC as a comedian for radio plays and offered counsel on matters of the heart and home on the program Purico Amateur Hour.

Iyo Karpo composed and wrote songs. It was in 1941 that he recorded his famous composition, Matud Nila (They Say). The song became popular until after the war.

With its haunting melody and romantic idealism. Matud Nila achieved the status of an “immortal Cebuano song.” (Tagalog lyrics were supplied for this song by Levi Celerio, under the title Ikaw na Lamang) The opening lines of the song are typical of the traditional harana (serenade), the plaint of a humble lover, conscious of social censure, who offers the gift of a love “more precious than gold.”

*Matud nila ako dili angay
Nga magmanggad sa imong gugma,
Matud nila ikaw dili malipay
Kay wa akoy bahandi nga kanimo igasa;
Gugmang putli mao day pasalig,
Maoy bahanding labaw sa bulawan…

Reprinted from the book: Cebu: More Than an Island
Honi: The Music of Cebu
By: Reynaldo E. Martires